The Portage la Prairie Salvation Army's food bank needs donations right away.

Community Services Coordinator Carolyn Paul tells us what they need

"We give a basic hamper that will last a family, perhaps, two or three days," she says, "So we are very low on canned vegetables and canned fruit, canned pasta, canned tuna or salmon, canned soup, any type of pasta or pasta sauce -- rice, oatmeal, peanut butter, cereal, and please watch expiry dates."

Carolyn Paul

Volunteer Rose Carriere crunched some numbers to give us an idea of the volume they deal with on a regular basis.

"In the last six months, we've given out 891 hampers," she says, "Which have fed 1380 adults, and about 1261 children. It takes a huge amount of food. We also gave out bread to over 523 people in that same time period. And we were averaging 34 to 35 hampers a week."

Carolyn Paul stresses you can also help this week, by taking in Christmas in July on Thursday at Scotiabank.

"They are going to be offering pizza that is coming from Unc's Diner, between 11 and 2," she says, "We've got a brass band coming from Winnipeg, our Sally Ann mascot, and we're working on Santa Claus, to make all festive. So if people want to come and enjoy lunch, if they want to bring a new gift for a child, we can start building that Toy Mountain, or if they just want a donation into the kettle, that would be awesome"